Our Bloody Masterpiece

Internet Celebrities

Before I get home, I pull into the drive through and buy an entire carton of cigarettes. Fuck a pack.

“Weren't you going to quit?” the old lady who works nearly every day I come through asks.

“You know what they say. No one ever really quits,” I tell her as I hand her my money. “You can keep the change.”

The change is roughly five dollars, but I don't even give a shit. I just want to get home. I'm cycling through what I'm going to need to do to stay hidden for a while. Shooting up a mall draws a lot of attention. Attention is my biggest enemy.

These people I fucked over, have been waiting a long time to find me. I'm guessing the wait has pissed them off even more.

I park three blocks away from the apartment building. The last thing I need is the cops finding it on the street I live on. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I probably am, but its definitely not worth the risk. There's a time to take chances, and now sure as fuck isn't the time.

I walk into my apartment and lock the door. If I could, I'd board the fucker up and never come out. I haven't been this scared in a long time. Scenarios of what could have happened are running through my head.

Maybe they question Charlie. Maybe she tells them everything. They run a check on the name, find out they have a wanted fugitive in their town, and the manhunt begins. Maybe the police have somebody on the inside, working for the people who really don't like me. The type of people who would feed me my own dick while they eat Chinese and laugh about thirty year old Johnny Carson jokes.

I tend to like my dick between my legs, not being shoved down my own throat.

“Its not like that,” I try to tell myself. “You're thousands of miles away from them. They can't find you here.”

I light up a cigarette and try to calm myself down. I turn the TV up, and do my best to act like nothing is wrong. The cigarette doesn't last long enough.

Its official. I'm a full blown smoker again.

I just had to go to the mall today. Of all the fucking days. I didn't even get my fucking jeans. I just had to be nice to a stranger... A girl... A beautiful girl... Damn it Charlie! Why the fuck did you have to be the damsel in distress today! Of all the fucking days!

I just hope they don't get to you. I just hope you don't end up dead because of me. You'd of been better off with that wife beating asshole. You're too smart to be with someone like him, or me for that matter. Someone like me... They don't deserve you. Someone like me doesn't deserve anyone.

I smoke a pack of cigarettes in under two hours. I'll be done with this carton before long. It won't be long until I have to leave the house again, but for now, I'm not going anywhere. I sure as hell hope there's something good on TV for the time being.

…........................................................................................................................

Its been about a week since I've gone anywhere. I'm out of smokes. Out of food. Out of clean clothes. Out of everything. I need to leave. I need to accomplish something. I can't just sit here in fear and live in the same shirt for another week. Its not healthy.

I grab a basket of laundry and get dressed in the last pair of clean clothes I have. I remember the truck is still parked a few blocks away. That's if the cops haven't found it and hauled it away yet. I leave the building and I'm nervous as my foot touches the cement of the sidewalk. I feel like this is going to be it. This is where I lose my dick. The thought runs through my head with every car that passes.

“Calm down Spence. Get your shit together. Nothings wrong. You're just going to do your laundry and buy a carton of cigarettes. You're fine,” I tell myself as I turn the street corner. I'm repeating those words when I see it.

The worst thing I could possibly see.

There's two men, circling my truck. They aren't cops, at least I don't think they are. They seem too laid back to be cops. Neither of them have a gun, or badge visible. One is looking around, making sure nobody sees them.

I'm fucked.

How did they find me? Charlie has to have told them something. I have to know what she told them. I have to know what happened, and then I have to get the fuck out of town. This happens tonight.

Then again, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she didn't tell them shit. The cops would have found me by now. They have more than enough tools to. Surveillance footage and that sort of thing, would have led them right to my door. Parking the truck three blocks away wouldn't have meant shit.

You're a thousand miles away from there Spencer. They wouldn't be looking for you without a reason. They found something, but what? I'm not thinking, and I run into somebody with my laundry basket. Its one of those stoner kids I helped throw out a week ago.

“Hey! What the fuck man!?... Oh!... I'm sorry! My mistake!... Dude! I remember you!... I seen you on the internet! You fucked up those fucking crazy fucks! That shit was awesome! I was tellin' my buddy about you throwin' us out before then! He didn't believe me!” the red eyed kid tells me.

“That shits on the internet!?” I shout.

“Yea dude, you've got about a million hits so far. It was pretty sick how you saved that girl. Bitches all over the place want your nuts dude. I envy you.”

“No you don't... You need a ride?” I ask him.

“Wow! That would be super cool man! Thanks! Never met a celebrity before. Much less gotten a ride from one.”

I toss him the keys to my truck as I walk into the apartment building.

“She's all yours. Anybody asks where you got it, tell them you stole it.”

“What? Why would I say that?”

“Because the people asking won't be cops. You stole it at the mall or something. Be creative. Think of a story... Now take the fucking truck!” I shout as I show him my gun. “And if you tell them you saw me, I'll kill you and your girlfriend! Don't think I won't!” He nods, and backs away quickly. That's one thing I don't have to worry about now.

I need to get my money, get a few of the essentials, and buy a bus ticket out of here. I grab the briefcase under my bed and then it hits me.

Charlie... Charlie isn't going to be safe. I can't live with myself if I kill that poor girl because of my own selfish bull shit. I find her number on the table, and decide I'll call her at the laundry mat. Poor girl. I just fucked up her life, and she doesn't even know it. She's on that video, just like I am. I know she is. They're probably looking for her right now.

If they're this close to finding me, I can only imagine how close they are to finding her.

I power walk down the road, praying I don't get spotted on my way to the laundry mat. Its tough to have a shoot out when you're holding a basket full of dirty clothes. This laundry basket has everything. Shirts, jeans, toothbrush, a briefcase full of hundred dollar bills, and the phone number of a beautiful woman. Everything I'll ever need.

I get to the laundry mat and wait patiently for an old lady to get done washing her drapes. I even help her put them in the dryer. I throw everything into one load. I don't give a shit about how clean they are, I just need them to not smell like gunpowder, cigarettes and fear.

I grab the phone next to the old Galaga arcade machine, and dial the number written so neatly on that little piece of napkin. It rings twice, and she answers. It feels like time freezes.

“Charlie?” I ask, making sure I have the right number.

“Spencer? Is that you?” she replies. Its been so long, I forgot what she sounded like. I imagine if angels were pissed off, tired, and shocked at the person calling them, they'd sound like Charlie does right now.

"Yeah. Listen, I can't talk for long, is there someplace that we can meet?" I ask her. I could talk all day, but I hear my laundry going off, and I can tell the girl waiting for my washer is the type to throw a bitch fit if I'm not there to get it out on time.

Charlie tells me about this cafe she works at. Nova Cafe. Her shift is five hours. She gives me directions, and I scribble them on the side of the arcade machine with a magic marker from the kids playpen.

Don't worry, its washable.

“I'll meet you a half hour before your shift finishes, goodbye.”

“Bye,” she replies.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks,” I tell her before I hang up. Thanks for answering the phone. Thanks for giving me a chance to make this right. I should have taken her with me in the first place. I will not fuck this up again. Charlie deserves better than me, and I'm going to make damn sure she gets what she deserves.

I hang around at the laundry mat for a few hours playing Galaga and washing my marker mess off. I have the directions committed to memory. I just hope she's still serving assholes, and hipsters coffee when I get there.

I hustle to the cafe and get there fifteen minutes before I'm supposed to. I don't see Charlie anywhere at first, so I sit down and set my laundry basket on the table. There's only three people here. One, a bald guy, probably writing some shitty zombie fiction story for a website nobody cares about. The other two, a couple, making out like there's no tomorrow. Maybe they read the guy's zombie story, and it scared the shit out of them. Their coffee went cold about an hour ago. What a shame.

I start to wish you could still smoke in public, when it hits me. I haven't had a cigarette since I woke up this morning. I was supposed to buy them hours ago, but I just didn't. I guess I've just been so busy with people trying to kill me, that it slipped my mind. Maybe every smoker should be blessed with something like this.

I don't have to wait long, before Charlie comes walking out of the back. Time stops. It feels like my heart is in my throat as I try to find the words. She sees me over the laundry basket and starts to make her way over. She's smiling, but shes nervous.

Why? I'm supposed to be the nervous one here. Not her.

“I'll be off in a little bit here... What's with the laundry?” she asks.

“I needed to clean the smell of shit out of the jeans I was wearing at the mall,” I tell her. She laughs, and goes to freshen up the couple's coffee. Then the bald guy's cup. He thanks her. Seems like a friendly geek to me.

I watch her every move. Trying to make sure she doesn't notice me watching. You can't get caught checking a woman out. Over the years you master the art of watching them through the corner of your eye. Women want you to notice though, I just prefer to be discreet about it. Its just more respectful in my opinion.

She's like an angel blessing every cup. Every step she takes is a gift to the world. A girl like this deserves more than I could ever give her. She's the type that doesn't think she's special, and that alone, makes her one of a kind. You get a woman like her, you don't let go. Charlie finishes her shift, and comes to sit by me. I can tell its probably one of her days where she doesn't feel as beautiful as she really is. Nothing is sexier than a woman on one of those days.

“So... What's up?” I ask.

“I guess I could ask you the same thing,” she replies.

“Yea... I sort of called you huh?... Look... That day... I... Fuck... I don't even know how to say this.”

“You can tell me. Its okay.”

“No... No it isn't. Look... Charlie... I fucked up your life... I'm sorry.”

“You saved my life. There's a big difference Spencer. I'm thank...”

“No. Listen to me. There's a lot about me you don't know. I've done some bad shit okay? Some very bad shit, with some very bad people...”

“It doesn't make you a bad person...”

“No, it makes me a terrible person... If I show you something, will you promise to not tell?”

“You can show me anything.”

“You trust people too easily Charlie. That's not always a good thing.”

“No... I don't trust anyone anymore... But I trust you. There's something different about you.”

“I guess that's one way of putting it,” I say as I pull out the briefcase from under the pile of clothes. I open it up and turn it around, showing her the money.”

“Oh my God... Spencer what did you do?”

“I didn't rob a bank if that's what you're thinking... Let's just say, I took it from some people who needed it for the wrong reasons... Now... Now they're out to kill me... And probably you too.”

“What!? Why me!?”

“That day at the mall... Somehow, that got onto the internet... Somehow these people seen it, and they tracked me down. I'm begging for your life on the video... I haven't seen the video, but I assume that part is on there. It won't be long before they get to you. I know how they operate. They can't find me, they'll find you... Charlie... I'm so fucking sorry about this. I wish I would have never met you. You deserve so much more than this.”

“What... What would they do to me?”

“Torture you... Use you to get to me... Then they'd lure me in... Probably cut my balls off in front of you, before they kill us both... We can't stay here... We have to leave. We have to go now.”

“I can't leave... This place is... Its...”

“Do you want to die here? You're smarter than that. I'll take you somewhere safe, and then you never have to see my face again okay? You can live the rest of your life and forget I existed... I just can't live with myself if I let something bad happen to you.”

“...They're never going to leave you alone... No matter where you go, they'll find you... They found you here right?”

“I mean... You're right... But...”

“Spencer... I can't stop thinking about that day...”

“Its traumatizing... Having a gun pointed at you has that...”

“No... I can't stop thinking about you... You didn't even know me... You risked everything for me... You're still risking everything for me. You should have left town already, and instead, you came here. You came here to save me again... Why?”

“...Because... There's something about you... Something I don't deserve... Something... Special... I would kill for you.”

“You already have.”

“And I'll do it again Charlie... I promise you that.”

And just like that, her lips are pressed against mine, and the couple in the corner are staring at us in awe. This is what it feels like when an angel kisses the devil. This is a moment, I wish could last forever.